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Oregon women win first NCAA cross country title since 1987

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The Oregon women took home the academic season's first NCAA title, claiming the cross country championship on Saturday at the E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky. It is the Ducks' first national championship in the sport since 1987. Pac-12 schools have won 452 national team championships all-time to lead the nation. It is also the Conference's 146th NCAA women's team title all-time.

The Ducks' 114 points to beat the field came on the strength of two top-10 individual finishers. Senior Jordan Hasay was third overall with a time of 19:28.6, just .7 seconds behind the winner, Iowa State's Betsy Saina. UO's Alexi Pappas' time of 19:43.9 was good for eighth place.

Stanford finished third in the team standings with 198 points, the team's highest finish at the meet since winning the title from 2005-07. Arizona scored 263 points to place sixth while Washington came in ninth, collecting 334 points. It is the first time since 2007, the year the Cardinal won the national title, the Pac-12 has had four women's teams place in the top 10. Colorado rounded out the Pac-12 teams with a 24th-place finish (519 points).

Also notable was Utah's Amanda Mergaert who posted a top-15 finish, placing 14th overall with a time of 10:57.7. She earned an individual at-large bid to compete in the race.

In the men's race, Arizona's Lawi Lalang could not pull off a repeat performance of last year. He came in third place with a time of 28:51.8 behind Texas Tech's Kennedy Kithuka (28:31.3) and Wildcat teammate Stephen Sambu (28:38.6). It was Lalang's first-career cross country race he did not walk away with top honors.

In the team race, Pac-12 Champion Colorado was the highest league finisher with 158 points, placing third behind NCAA Champion Oklahoma State (72) and Wisconsin (135). It is the second-straight third-place showing for the Buffs at the NCAA Championships.

With the help of sophomore Lane Werley, who placed 24th overall with a time of 29:49.5, UCLA posted its best finish since 1985, coming in 13th place with 376 points. Stanford was 16th, accumulating 408 points, and Oregon's 472 points were good for 20th place.

Oregon's women's national championship was the first time since 2008 that a Pac-12 men's or women's team had won the crown.

For full results of the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships, visit ncaa.com.